“…Would you be kind enough to ask Case to send me without a moment’s delay one dozen of my card photghs. The ones I want are those seated, with cane & black cravat He knows the ones I liked the best…This is very important As there are several parties whom I would like to give one.”
– Letter from John Wilkes Booth to Orlando Tompkins dated February 9th, 1865
Before assassinating President Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was already a famous man. He was a leading actor of the American stage and his face was well known to a generation of theater goers. He was a handsome man, even being called the “handsomest man in Washington” in the hours leading up to the assassination. Women swooned over his looks and photographs of him were sought after. Booth not only gave photographs of himself as gifts and remembrances, but photographers and gallery owners sold his image to the public. After Booth assassinated Lincoln, demand for his picture increased by a factor of ten. Newspapers were full of advertisements offering the sale of his picture.
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and others in the government likely found this clamoring for the assassin’s picture shameful and so, on May 2nd, the Middle Department of the Army issued a general order essentially banning the sale of Booth’s image in Washington and Maryland:
“The sale of portraits of any rebel officer or soldier, or of J. Wilkes Booth, the murderer of President Lincoln, is forbidden hereafter in this department. All commanding officers and provost-marshals are hereby ordered to take possession of such picture wherever found exposed for sale, and report the names of the parties so offending, who will be liable to arrest and imprisonment if again guilty of a violation of this order.”
Sale of Booth’s photographs outside of this department’s jurisdiction continued and, by May 26th, this order was rescinded and images of Booth were allowed to be sold in Washington again. Soon, carte-de-visites, or small card photographs, of Lincoln’s assassin filled album books nationwide.
In 1979, authors Richard and Kellie Gutman published the book, John Wilkes Booth Himself. By working with many private collectors and institutions, the Gutmans had identified and collected all the known images of John Wilkes Booth and published them together in a volume. The book contained 44 images. Four of them are of illustrations or paintings based on a photo and one image, Gutman 1, has been proven not to be of Booth but rather of a friend of his, Richard M. Johnson. This leaves the book with 39 photographs of John Wilkes Booth. The Gutmans’ book is rare and highly sought after today as only 1,000 copies were printed in 1979. Since the release of their book, other photographs have been discovered of John Wilkes Booth. There are also small variations on the known photographs that can be found due to the type of camera used (stereoscopic) and small movements Booth made during a particular sitting of certain pose. The numeration given by the Gutmans in their book is the most common way to organize and differentiate between Booth’s many photographs.
The images below come from a variety of sources with the bulk of them stemming from online auctions. While sites like eBay can provide a nice showcase of original Booth images, they are also ripe with laughable images of mustachioed, curly haired gentlemen “proven” to be Booth. Most of these fakes are ignored but, occasionally, they attract farsighted fools and bring their crafty sellers a payday. The images in this Picture Gallery are established and universally agreed upon images of Booth.
Click on a picture below to see the larger image and a description
LincolnConspirators.com 
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I several of several of JW CDVs in my collection. One of these days I will need to go thru my stuff and start cataloging them. I too have the Gutman book and your article on Gutman #1 garnered a lot of interest on the Spirit of Tudor Hall Facebook page when I posted it last year. Also there are some images of JWB here that I have not seen before. Again another great post Dave!
Thanks, Carolyn. After I posted this a friend of mine was kind enough to send me another image of Booth that I had never seen before. It’s so cool to see new pictures.
I have a photo that bears a very strong resemblance to John Wilkes Booth. I’ve never seen it published. I have it posted on my site at:
http://armandsphotos.com/page1.php
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on booth
Comments appreciated.
Armand
Armand,
While the gentleman in your image bears more of a resemblance to Booth than some other pictures of mustachioed men I’ve seen, I still do not believe that this is the real McCoy. Thank you for sharing it, however.
Dave
new to the party here….pretty great site…….in regards to Armand’s photo;…..thinking not Booth as you can see that left hand pretty well…and no india inked initials……maybe retouched but pretty sure he kept that hand well hidden……thanks for the super treasure trove here…….Gary Gilbert…..
you can see the infamous tattoo……. there’s the one seated shot where his left hand is very visible. I can definitely see markings on the handl. I’ve been reading about this for so long, it’s great to see it for once.
The Rail Splitter website is another great source for past auction results. I use to participate in their phone auctions years ago and if I wanted something Booth related I would usually contact Jonathan over there. Doesn’t look like that site has been maintained for some time though.
The “In the Marketplace” section is still updated fairly regularly. But yes, the Railsplitter archives are a treasure trove of fascinating artifacts and images.
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Hi, I have a cdv of Booth that ive never seen anywhere else before, trouble is the photographic studio didn’t begin until 1888 !! where cdv’s of Booth still being reprinted and sold in 1888 ?
Dave, which photo is the earliest known of Booth? Are there any childhood photos or teen photos?
Dear Dave,
I recently came across a family Bible that stated one of the members of our family, Jacob Abington Mohler was a photographer and photographed JW Booth in his studio. (I’m assuming they were” head shots ” for his acting career. The story writes that after the assassination, the photo was kept in the family for many years, but it doesn’t say who has it now.
How can I find out if this is in fact true? Is there a way to find out if my ancestor indeed had a photography business? If it helps, I can send you a copy of a photo of Jacob Abington Mohler.
so is it Gutman 35 that was one of his favorites ? Seems like a nice one. I believe that the black enamel, circular stickpin with diamond center is seen in this photo and some of the other ones., that was exciting to me….. to read about it and then finally see it. just sayin’
John Wilkes Booth writings
Click to access Abraham-Lincoln-Assassination-John-Wilkes-Booths-Writings.pdf